Investigators to study An-148 crash site for several days

MOSCOW/KRASNOYARSK, Feb 12 (PRIME) -- Investigation at a crash site of the An-148 airplane in the close vicinity of Moscow, which killed 65 passengers and six crew members on February 11, will take several days, the Investigative Committee said on Monday in a statement.

The committeeТs Chairman Alexander Bastrykin held a meeting at the crash site and ordered the area to be scrutinized.

УIn view of a vast territory that should be inspected, it will take not a single day, and the work will be done in a non-stop regime until it is completed,Ф the statement read.

The airplane of air carrier Saratov Airlines departed from the Moscow airport of Domodedovo with the destination of Orsk, in the Volga Federal District, and crashed just several minutes after taking-off in the district of Ramenskoye in the Moscow Region.

The Federal Air Transport Agency said that connection to the airplaneТs crew was lost several minutes after its takeoff at Domodedovo.

A spokesperson for an emergency operations center at the crash site said that the second found black box is in a satisfactory state. Fuselage debris were scattered in the radius of one kilometer.

The Emergency Situations Ministry confirmed that two foreign citizens were on board of the ill-fated plane. A deputy of the city council of Norilsk, Sergei Panchenko, was also among the victims.

Healthcare Minister Veronika Skvortsova said that search for bodies will be held for a week. УItТs quite a lengthy process, which will probably take about seven days,Ф she said.